Abstract
Major blood loss remains common in cardiac surgery with an incidence of up to 15%.
Bleeding leads to anemia and blood product transfusion, and can lead to the need for rethoracotomy, which are all independently associated with an adverse outcome (Fig. 1).
Patient blood management is the bundle of measures to encounter bleeding and prevent unnecessary transfusion aiming to improve patient outcome.
This article focuses on these blood conservation strategies in cardiac surgery. For the understanding of patient blood management in this setting, the pathophysiology of coagulopathy during these procedures, including the effect of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), is first discussed. Thereafter, the most important patient blood management strategies are reviewed.
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